Review: Fantastic Four (2015)

Yet another case of blogging memory loss, I could have sworn I had written and published this review but I hadn't even started it - What the heck!?  As you all well know I was really looking forward to this and hoping it would not be a disaster after being perfectly happy with the 'rubbish' original...

Reed Richards (Miles Teller) spends his young life working on a teleporter with the help of his best friend Ben Grimm (Jamie Bell), which when working with scientist, Franklin Storm (Reg E. Cathey) and his daughter Sue (Kate Mara) realises it transports to an alternate reality.  Reed, Ben, Sue's brother Johnny (Michael B. Jordan) and Victor Von Doom (Toby Kebbell) get drunk and decide to test the transporter before the Government can take it away from them.  Unfortunately, the alternate universe is not what they expect and they end up with strange super powers.....

I had such high hopes and said hopes were dashed...epically.  This was nothing like I expected, the CGI and the graphics were amazing which IS what I expected but the story was terrible and really not much about super heroes as much as a really boring story about four boring people (one of which is barely in the film!).  Ben's character barely had any presence at all but randomly got called by Reed near the end to be included in the trip (and therefore become The Thing), Victor von Doom, the supposed bad guy, is ridiculously likeable (and to me more like how I would expect Johnny Storm to be) and Johnny Storm was just plain boring (much like his sister). 

I was so excited to see Miles Teller again, after falling in love with him in Whiplash and he was so unbelievably bland, I couldn't believe it was the same actor.  These were all great actors, so it must have been down to the story or the screen play because it just had nothing about it.  It spent so long on the run up to the 'transporter disaster' and hardly any time on the 'becoming super heroes' part - I fact where it ended, I thought that would be in the first 40 minutes or so.  I get that it is setting up for a series (as per usual) but it is blatantly obvious that Fox have rushed out a remake to avoid losing the rights to the characters and threw in as many up and coming actors/actresses as they could get their hands on to hype it up.

Not good, not good at all.  I am VERY concerned about Deadpool now!!!

Thursday Movie Picks: Movies Based on a Graphic Novel/Comic (Non-Superhero)

This week’s theme has really got me thinking. If you’re not familiar with the Thursday Movie Picks, it’s an amazing thing hosted by Wandering Through the Shelves. Each week brings a new theme, and all you need to do is pick 3 movies that fit the bill to discuss. This week is movies based on a graphic novel or comic book. Easy, right? Think again. They can't be superhero-related!

300 (2006) is the story of King Leonidas and his 300 men, fighting the Persians at Thermopylae many, many years ago. It’s also a series of comic books from back in 1998, written by Frank Miller! I can’t quite believe the movie is 9 years old now, I remember seeing it at the cinemas with my College buddies like it was only yesterday. Does that make me sound old? The sequel was okay, but 300 is a movie everyone should experience at least once!

R.I.P.D. (2013) is a quirky tale of a recently deceased cop who joins the Rest In Peace Department, and tries to find the man who murdered him. The movie is based on a Dark Horse comic by the same name. Sadly, the movie sort of bombed at the box office. I thought it was okay, my opinion is obviously biased but I understood people’s problems with it. Problem is, it’s a very little known comic in the first place and easily comparable to Men in Black.

Snowpiercer (2013) is a crazy story set in the future after a climate-change experiment went terribly wrong, and the planet’s only survivors are living on a train with a strict and harsh class system. The movie is based on a French graphic novel called Le Transperceneige, first published in 1982, although an English translation was released last year. Snowpiercer is a confusing yet brilliant movie, and I would urge anyone to give it a go if they haven’t already.

Review: Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015)

How long have we been waiting for this movie? I think the world and his wife went out to the cinema this weekend to see the long awaiting sequel to 2012's Avengers Assemble (The Avengers to the US residents among us) - the cinema was packed out and we went to see the very late 2D version in the hopes that it would be a bit quieter.  No such luck!

Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr) tries to protect the Earth from alien invasions using the power of the Sceptre to create Artificial Intelligence in his robot army.  Unfortunately, things don't quite go to plan and its down to Iron Man, Captain America (Chris Evans), The Hulk (Mark Ruffalo), Thor (Chris Hemsworth),  Black Widow (Scarlet Johansson) and Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) along with newbies Quicksilver (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) and Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen) to save the world....again.

Do you think there will ever be a superhero film in which the world is perfectly fine on its own?

So this was not what I expected, I expected a replica of the first Avengers but with a different storyline, I thought it would be just as playful and witty and off the cuff as the first, but it wasn't.  Initally, I thought it was a bad thing, I didn't understand why they weren't sticking to the tried and testing formula that worked so well for its predecessor and the likes of Guardians of the Galaxy.  Instead it took a tone more like the Captain America sequel, much more dark and in some ways realistic.  It has to be considered that going through these battles and wars with various monsters and bad guys would leave some psychological scarring, and this touches on that, particularly with Tony Stark (RDJ) and his fears for the Earth. 

We definitely got into their heads a little more than last time. One thing I really enjoyed was the amount of screen time Hawkeye and Black Widow got, they're easily forgotten and so it was a breath of fresh air to see them more.

It may not have been what I expected but that doesn't mean I didn't like it.  There were a few niggles that bothered me, the Russian twins god awful accents and the lack of Thor's biceps but nothing that ruined the film for me.  In fact, the inclusion of a bit of romance, a well kept secret and a developing bromance kept my interest peaked for the majority of the film, but what kept me well and truly gripped was Ultron.  James Spader's angry, calm, uber-intelligent robot just stole the show at every opportunity, took me the whole film to place the voice and I still found out from the credits but he was perfect.  He was the perfect villain.

As much as I enjoyed Age of Ultron, I too have my niggles about it. The romance was a little un-necessary I thought, and kind of came out of no where! The spoilerific (yes, I made that word up) ending which I won't go into detail fell flat, and I found myself glad it wasn't what the film had been hinting at from the very start!

James Spader as Ultron was brilliant! I wasn't bothered about Ultron in the slightest before the film, and I couldn't remove the image of The Office's Robert California until Ultron's reveal, and then I realised just how great the casting was. Still not a better villain than Loki I'm afraid!

There was nothing I didn't like about it, I may have preferred a few more comedy one-liners in there but I think that would have taken away from the overall goal of the film.  There was no messing about either, the opening sequence made way for a fast paced, non-stop, action packed superhero fest.

It was definitely darker, but the running joke about Captain America disapproving of swears never got old, and the scene with everyone gathered around Thor's hammer was hilarious! I'm trying my very hardest here to not make jokes about being able to raise Thor's hammer...

Great cast as always and a few surprise cameos (one that I hoped for didn't appear *sob*) made this just as good as the original but for different reasons. 

Seeing this in 3D IMAX made this an awesome experience for me, but I think the original is just that little bit better.

OH, and can I just say? Worst mid-credits scene ever. Tell us something we didn't know, Marvel!

Review: Hercules (2014)

I love going on holiday and finding a cinema (particularly in the States as the films are in the same language) because I always feel a bit lost if I can't go to the cinema.  So imagine my joy, to find that on Universal CityWalk a 5 minute walk from our hotel in Los Angeles, there was a huge cinema that also had an IMAX!! Happy Jenna!!

The first film we went to see on our travels was Hercules, (the Dwayne Johnson one) and genuinely wasn't expecting to enjoy it as I'm not a huge fan of Dwayne Johnson, but I was surprised.

This film has a really clever story that the 'Legend' of Hercules, is just that, a legend.  The myth of Hercules is kept alive by a group of 'swords for hire' who hide in the shadows and help Hercules to appear to be the son of a Demi-God.  Supported by the stories of his 'labours' told by his nephew Iolaus to ensure the legend continues, and guaranteeing them business.  That is until they are hired by the King of Thrace and his Daughter to stop a Warlord threatening their land.

I am surprised to say that I really enjoyed this film, the story was clever and not at all what I expected which made for a very good start.  They kept the comedy element present throughout, which made it really enjoyable watching and Autolycus' (Rufus Sewell) dry humour made me laugh out loud more than once.  Ian McShane's foreseer Amphiaraus had his own moments and stole many of the scenes he was in.

The three big battles were well done and not so quick that you can't see what's happening (a peeve of Transformers for me!) and still kept some of the lighthearted humour to stop it getting too heavy.  The overhead shots of the surrounding landscape set the scenes for the battles well and looked amazing in IMAX 3D (anyone who knows me, knows its a rarity for me to see a live action film in 3D).  I don't think this would have been the same in 2D, so i have to commend the choice to film it in 3D.

I also really enjoyed the end credits, I won't spoil it for anyone but it was very clever!

I was surprised (not sure if there are any other Australian Soap fans out there!) to see Daryll Braxton from Home and Away appearing as one of the Trace Army.  

Not what you expect and very entertaining.  Give it a go, you might be surprised.

Review: The Amazing Spider-Man 2

I finally went to the cinema to see this last week and I was not disappointed (as I knew I wouldn't be!) I am a huge fan of Andrew Garfield as Spider-Man and he completely lived up to my expectations, building on the character from the first film and making you love Spidey even more!! I had to wait till yesterday but I was seriously looking forward to this, the first one is probably one of my all time favourite comic films.

This sequel focuses mainly on Peter Parker (Garfield) trying to find out what happened to his parents as well as battling various enemies including Electro (Jamie Foxx), Green Goblin (Dane DeHaan) and - all be it briefly - Rhino (Paul Giamatti).  It also continues to build on the relationship between Parker and Gwen Stacy (Emma Stone), which personally is my favourite part, but I'm a sucker for a love story! How can you not be when it's Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone, probably the cutest couple on the planet ever?!

As a big fan of the Amazing Spider-Man film, I had high hopes for this and superficially I wasn't disappointed, the flying scenes were particularly impressive, even without 3D.  The comedy one liners from Spider-Man were there and the love story was there.  However, I did feel like the whole film came across a bit choppy and hard to follow.  One minute it's this bad guy, then it's that one and then this one is back and then oh look another different bad guy.  It almost felt like two different versions had been filmed and then cut and pasted together.  Certain parts of the film felt rushed while other parts dragged on and on.  When I left the cinema, I read the reviews as I do for every film and the Total Film review actually mentioned that MJ was going to be in this film and Shailene Woodley had filmed scenes but they were all cut. 

The comical moments were great, with one exception! Electro in Times Square, cue dramatic music, tens of police officers on standby, guns ready, and what does he say? "It's my Birthday...time to light my candles..." Urghhh... This clip below though? Comedy gold!

I wish I watched this at the IMAX Giant Screen like I did with the first, because some of the action scenes would have been incredible! They were great enough in 2D to be honest. My heart was literally racing throughout the final fight scene, it was incredible. I thought the film was fine to follow, but it all got a bit rushed at the end. There was really no need for Rhino at all, he was only really in it for about 5 minutes anyway.

I personally didn't see the big shock of the film coming, but after it happened I looked back at the whole film and they had been teasing and hinting at it all the way through, dragging it out unnecessarily I think.  I won't put any spoilers in here but it was a shock for me but it was clever as it curves away from what a comic book movie would normally do, if you have seen the film this will make perfect sense, if you haven't - well go and see it and get back to me!

I've read the comics so I knew what was coming, but damn they really didn't try to hide it. I've learnt from this to never like a film's Facebook page until you've seen it, as I saw a lot of people's angry reactions when a screenshot was posted with the caption 'Will Peter have to pay the ultimate price?'.

None of these 'issues' took away from my love of the film though, it held my attention and I was gripped from beginning to end.  I love the actors and the way they play these characters (although never saw Paul Giamatti as Rhino but it worked!!) and I did very much enjoy the story and would happily watch it again and again.

Great filming, great actors and great characters, if only the story had kept up this would have been a 9 for me. I can't give this a 10 because even I will point out some flaws, but I loved it and can't wait to see it again.